At 505 Eustis Ave. in downtown Huntsville, there's a home that 'has all the amenities of a new house, but the character of an old house'

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- As soon as you walk in the house at 505 Eustis Ave. in downtown Huntsville, a feeling of history sweeps over you.

There are the hardwood floors, the large staircase with the original wood, and the long, wide foyer.

Upstairs, there are the fireplaces in the bedrooms, the transoms over the bedroom doors and the French doors with the gilded frames to the master bedroom.

Downstairs, in the wine cellar in the basement, there are stones and bricks from the original well.

It is, in fact, a historical home in one of Huntsville's most historical areas. It is the home built in 1892 by Malcolm Murray, a former president of the Huntsville City Council.

The house has other strong ties to Huntsville history. Malcolm Murray's wife was the daughter of Robert Fearn Jr. Her great-uncle was Dr. Thomas Fearn, an original member of the University of Alabama board of trustees and Huntsville's representative to the Confederate Constitutional Convention, among other things.

Now, after a recent renovation, it is a house with 6,324 square feet and six bedrooms. The rooms include a mezzanine, a butler's pantry and a sitting room with large bookcases.

"It has all the amenities of a new house, but the character of an old house," said Sarah Lauren Kattos, the listing agent for Van Valkenburgh & Wilkinson Realtors.

About three years after an extensive renovation, the house is now for sale for $2.295 million.

"It was an original masterpiece," Kattos said. "They made sure (during the renovation) that the back addition was as proportional as the front."

The house has several original features - the hardwood floors, the mantel, the tile in the downstairs fireplace and the picture rails throughout the downstairs.

"Plaster is so delicate that you couldn't nail a nail in the wall without it cracking," Kattos said. "To hang pictures, picture rails were built into the walls."

Frank Nola, a local architect, was responsible for the planning of the renovation. The renovation was so historically accurate, Kattos said, that new doors matched the old ones.

"Frank designed something that was proportionally the same detail and added all the detail from the old doors," Kattos said. "He copied (the detail) and put it into the new doors."

The renovation took about a year - from 2007-2008, according to Kattos. An upscale kitchen, a master bedroom and a bathroom were among the additions.

The kitchen was designed with amenities by Clive Christian, the luxury kitchen designer.

A Palladian widow and heated marble tile floors were installed in the master bathroom. From an upstairs window in the master bathroom is a view of the Madison County Courthouse and some of the city's historic churches.

"I like the view where you can see the Church of the Nativity," Kattos said.

Like the house at 505 Eustis Ave., the steeple at the Church of the Nativity has undergone a recent renovation.

But other steeples are visible through the trees.

"You can see three churches (from here) - the Church of the Nativity, First Presbyterian and First Methodist," Kattos said.